II. ACADEMIC ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

Curriculum coordinators are appointed to give leadership to departmental programs which have specialized curricula or to any program or curriculum which includes more than one school or crosses departmental lines. The curriculum coordinator shall be an experienced teacher appointed by the dean(s) in consultation with the appropriate departmental chair(s), with the Graduate Dean (if appropriate) and with the provost.

Among the duties of the curriculum coordinator shall be: to advise the department chairs and the dean(s) regarding the coordination and assessment of courses required within the curriculum; to advise Enrollment Services regarding promotion of the curriculum; to advise students or prospective students who are interested in or are following the curriculum, or if appropriate, to appoint a committee to advise students; to direct assessment, evaluation, and improvement of the curriculum; and to foster interdepartmental cooperation regarding the curriculum. See also policy #2:440

The curriculum coordinator shall conduct conferences with teachers and officers individually or in groups, to consider plans for assessment of learner outcomes, for strengthening the curriculum, and for better coordinating the courses that are involved.

In all matters pertaining to the department, the chair of an academic department is directly responsible to the dean of the school to which the department belongs. If a matter affects two or more schools in interdepartmental or interdisciplinary programs voted by the Board of Trustees, the chair shall seek counsel from the appropriate deans and where appropriate the dean of the school of graduate studies and research.

The duties of the department chair include the following:

Promote the well-being and effective functioning of the department.
Manage the department resources in a fiscally responsible manner.
Foster communication and faculty participation in departmental business including regular department sessions.
Counsel the members of the department regarding their employment conditions and faculty performance including annual reviews and plans for teaching, scholarship, and service including participation in professional societies and presentations of scholarly papers (see policy #2:143:2).
Give leadership to departmental improvement, including review of assessment results and the effect on curriculum improvement; annual reports, periodic self-studies, or program reviews; research agendas (see policy #2:244); recruiting and orienting new faculty, visiting professor, of guest faculty; student recruitment; and other activities that enhance departmental programs.
Provide a communications link between faculty and administration regarding departmental needs and recommendations. Communicate departmental decisions to students.
Ensure the enforcement of the applicable policies of the university.

The chair of the department shall call regular departmental sessions, usually at least monthly, several times during the year, and shall invite all regular members of the department. Minutes shall be recorded and copies given to members of the departmental faculty, the dean of the school and, if appropriate, the dean of the school of graduate studies and research, the registrar and the provost.

The agenda may include any matters germane to the strengthening and good functioning of the department. Examples might include learning objectives and assessment of them, effective teaching techniques, faculty research, course offerings, prerequisites and course requirements, decisions made in response to assessment findings, resources needed. Topics of general professional or departmental interest should be included. These discussions may lead to formulation of recommendations or requests to be presented by the department to the proper administrators or committees. See also policy #2:440.

The Andrews University Board of Trustees may institute endowed chairs on the recommendation of the president after appropriate consultation with all parties concerned and after a written agreement has been entered into between the donor(s) and Andrews University.

The written agreement with respect to a proposed endowed chair shall contain the following elements:

The statement will indicate whether the endowed chair will: (a) fund an existing faculty budget or serve to add a budget, (b) honor a person or idea, create a disciplinary or special emphasis, assure the continuation of a particular teaching emphasis, or fulfill such other purposes as may be deemed appropriate within the mission of the university.

The statement shall indicate the following:

whether the endowed chair is assigned to the university, to a specific school or to a department;
which of specific purposes above has been selected;
what the criteria shall be to qualify the occupant for the endowed chair and for continuation in the chair.

The criteria developed are established by written mutual agreement of the donor(s) and university prior to seeking approval for instituting the endowed chair and shall mark the total involvement of the donor(s) in the endowed chair process and administration.

The statement shall also indicate what is to happen to the endowment principal in the event of the dissolution of the chair and the criteria for such dissolution.

While the term of occupancy of the endowed chair shall be continuous in contrast to annual appointments, subject to evaluation by academic administration (by the department chair and/or the dean of the school), the continuation of the incumbent holding the endowed chair shall be contingent on fulfillment of the purposes and conditions specified.

Except where otherwise proscribed by the nature and purposes for a specific endowed chair, the evaluation for continuation of the incumbent of the endowed chair shall be done every five years in the year following the General Conference session.

If a faculty member, who already holds the tenure status, is appointed to an endowed chair position the tenure status of that faculty member remains unchanged and apart from the occupancy of the endowed chair position, provided the faculty member continues to meet the criteria for the tenure status.

When an endowed chair is vacated either voluntarily or as the result of an evaluation, the continued employment of the person who vacates the chair shall be given priority consideration subject to fulfilling the usual employment conditions and those governing tenure and retrenchment priorities according to qualifications, status and years of service.

The selection of the occupant of an endowed chair shall take place through an appropriate University search process (see policy #2:142:6:1). The method of announcing the occupant of the chair will be the usual way of publicizing the appointment of any faculty member.

The university shall annually determine the minimum amount needed to fund an endowed chair. The amount shall be determined with consideration to such elements as the expected percentage interest return, percent inflation interest required to protect the principal, and the specifics of the chair package such as salary amount, travel allowance, benefits, research allowances and secretarial assistance.

The assignment of an endowed chair shall include the assignment of a special endowment chair title which shall be in addition to the rank the occupant already holds.

Before recommending departmental budgets to the Board of Trustees for final approval, the president also recommends to the Board of Trustees the policies that shall govern the endowment of endowed chair personnel budgets.

The chair of a department, in cooperation with the associate Provost, the Dean of Scholarly Research, and the deans shall give high priority to discussion of and planning for research and professional publication projects within a department. Planning shall include the calculation of teaching loads on an annual basis to facilitate blocks of protected time for research and writing, and designation of space and facilities necessary for the project.

Continuing involvement of the members of a department in research and professional writing is a prerequisite for departmental participation in graduate instruction.

Annually faculty members shall give the provost and the Dean of Scholarly Research a report of the research completed or conducted and abstracts of articles and books published during that year. Such reports are used in accreditation reports, annual faculty performance reviews and portfolio development in applying for rank promotion and tenure.

Faculty grants for research projects are awarded annually through a process conducted by the Office of Scholarly Research. These grants are contingent on research proposals that are judged and screened by anonymous committees of selected faculty members. Faculty are expected to use university research grants as seed money to obtain external funding support for their research projects.

The administration of the university creates the General Faculty committees that are deemed appropriate and necessary, and assigns terms of reference to these committees. Such committees may be standing committees or may be ad hoc committees with a limited linesman. Specific descriptions of committee organization and terms of reference are found in the University Committee Handbook. See also policies #1:601- 1:620 for the major standing committees of the university.

Standing committees reporting to the General Faculty are usually policy-recommending committees. Their function is to review of existing policies and to formulate new policies as may be necessary. Such committees may also be assigned specific administrative or decision-making functions.

A committee reporting to the General Faculty may make a recommendation to any other committee reporting to the General Faculty. Any administrative officer and any faculty member may make a recommendation to any committee reporting to the General Faculty and vice versa.

University-wide standing General Faculty committees and councils are annually appointed by the president according to specified formulae after consultation with the provost and the deans. Representative members are elected by the relevant school for three year terms on a rotational basis. The president shall designate the chair. The vice-chair and secretary may be designated by the president or may be elected by the committee at its first annual meeting.

A faculty member generally does not chair more than one standing committee. The membership of a committee may include any or all of the following categories of faculty: professors, associate professors, assistant professors and instructors. Faculty loads ordinarily carry no more than three major committee assignments. Generally, faculty in their first year of work at Andrews University are not appointed to university standing committees.

In special circumstances the provost or appropriate administrator may invite additional individuals to sit with the committee with the right to vote on a particular issue.

Standing committees within each school or college are usually appointed by the relevant dean.

After consultation with the undergraduate and graduate student associations and the deans, the president shall appoint student representatives to certain standing university committees. The deans of the respective schools and colleges may appoint student representatives to standing committees in their schools.

Items considered by a faculty member or administrator as needed for faculty action should be presented first to the appropriate standing committee. The question of which committee is appropriate decided by the president or provost or, within a school, by the dean. When justified, the president may appoint an ad hoc committee to which a matter may be referred. Such ad hoc committees report directly to the faculty. The membership and mandate of each ad hoc committee shall be announced to the faculty as soon as possible after it has been determined.

Robert’s Rules of Order is used as a guide for all committee work. See policy # 1:752.

Minutes of a committee are prepared by the committee’s secretary, approved by the chair, submitted to the committee for adoption, and then distributed to the appropriate faculty. Official university committee minutes are maintained in the Office of the Provost; school committee minutes are maintained in the office of the dean of the school.

A list of committees and membership is provided each faculty member, staff person, and administrator as an Annual Committee Directory at the web site: http://commdb.andrews.edu/ .